that we carry those people with us. you know, they live on through us. my brother, for instance, was a great card. and he'd, when we'd start to drive onto a highway where there's a yield sign, he'd just suddenly in an english accent say, "yield. i shall never yid." so he's with me every time i see a yield sign. so that's the presence within the absence that i try to capture in some of my poetry. >> i've long been envious, of your capacity for detail, for example, your poem "reminisce at." >> "toul." it's a little town in france. >> and you were there? >> i was there when i was in the air force. i was stationed very close to er now i was flying jet fighters, we had a nuclear mission. we didn't fly with nukes but we stood alert with them. and so it was a dicey time. "reminiscence at toul." 30 years ago on new year's eve drunk on french champagne we shot bottle rockets from the windows of hank and willi's rented chateau overlooking nancy. it sounds so worldly which is how we wanted to think of ourselves, but lord, we were just children, sent by the governme